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my subscriptions are just sitting there!
None of our subscription orders were processed yesterday. What would prevent them from running?
There several things that could prevent a subscription order from being processed when it becomes due. Below is the checklist that Modular Merchant's Tech Support team starts with when investigating unprocessed subscriptions. This checklist has proven to be very affective in diagnosing subscription problems, so we've posted it here for our clients to use too. Let's review each item that can prevent subscriptions from being processed:
1. Processing time(s) aren't set in the Subscription Products module's settings
The first thing to check is the Subscription Products module settings, to ensure that times have been selected to process due subscription orders. These options are located in the store's administration area at: [Modules > Subscription Products > Module Settings]. One or more hours of the day can be selected in the module options. (See example image below.)
Select the time(s) for your subscriptions to be processed in the module's options.
In the sample image above, the store will attempt to process any subscriptions that are now due every day in the 5:00am hour. Note, the store won't process the subscriptions at exactly 5:00am — a random time within that hour will be selected by the system. This prevents potentially overloading the server by trying to process every store's subscriptions at the top of each hour.
warning
If the Subscription Module Settings are set to send customers an email notification if their subscription is declined, then a decline email will be sent each time the store attempts to process their subscription.
This means that, if all 24 times are selected, then the customer will receive a decline order notification email 24 times in a single day!
tip
Most Modular Merchant clients have chosen to process the store subscriptions once per day.
Why select more than one hour in the day to process subscriptions?
Selecting more than one hour is optional. Some clients schedule more than one hour in the day so that they can correct any declined orders that occur in the first hour so that those orders can be successfully processed when the system reruns again at the next selected hour.
2. The automated server task that processes subscriptions is not configured
The processing of the subscriptions is performed by an automated server task called a "cron" task. These cron tasks are automatically set up when a hosting account is installed. However, on rare occasions, it's possible that the cron job failed to be created with the website's hosting account was configured. The status of the website's cron tasks can be checked within the Plesk control panel.
locating your plesk login information
Your Plesk login information, and a link to the Plesk control panel, can be found within your store's Administration Area at: [Hosting > Connection Information].
To find the list of the cron tasks that have been set up in Plesk, follow these steps:
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Log in to the Plesk control panel using the instructions located within your store's Administration Area at: [Hosting > Connection Information].
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In the Plesk control panel, click on the Domains link.
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On the Domains page, click the link for your domain name.
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Click on the Scheduled Tasks icon in the "Additional Tools" section of the page.
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Click the link for your Plesk username in the System User section of the page.
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This will load the Crontab Tasks page, which lists all of the cron tasks running on your website.
If no cron tasks are running on your website, the screen will look something like this:
A crontab with no scheduled tasks.
Otherwise, the screen will list the cron tasks you have running, which will look something like this:
A crontab containing a scheduled task.
If your website doesn't have a cron task ending in "cron_manager.php", contact Modular Merchant support, and they will install all of the store's cron tasks for you ASAP.
3. An incompatible payment gateway is selected
Not all payment gateways are compatible with automated subscription billing. Typically, any gateway that requires the customer to leave your store website and complete the transaction on the payment gateway's website may be incompatible with the store's automated subscription billing.
If a subscription is assigned to an incompatible payment gateway, then a warning message will be displayed on the Search Subscriptions page in your store's Administration Area at: [Orders > Search Subscription Queue].
Any subscription set to use an incompatible payment gateway will be declined when it becomes due, and it will remain on your list of subscriptions, unprocessed.
4. Subscriptions are being declined
Another potential issue that can prevent a subscription from processing is failure at the payment gateway. If the payment gateway declines the transaction, is offline, or otherwise fails to respond, then the subscription's transaction will not be processed.
When this happens, the shopping cart software actually is processing a subscription, but, since it is being declined, the subscription remains in the queue. It is not rescheduled, since it was not successfully processed. The system will attempt to process it again the next time the due subscriptions in the queue are billed.
When this happens, it's usually easy to track down. Declined subscriptions will be included in the Declined Orders report, located in your store's administration area at: [Reports > Declined Orders]. Mousing over the icon in the Decline Reason column will display a popup listing the specifics about the declined transaction, including the payment gateway's reason for the declining it.
Most of the orders declined in your shopping cart will be listed in the Declined Orders report.
If a subscription is declined by the payment gateway, then it will remain in your Subscription Queue, and the system will attempt to process it again the next time your subscriptions are billed. When the subscription is eventually successfully processed, it will pick up right where it left off. No orders will be dropped, and there will be no need to manually adjust the subscription's bill date.
5. Bad/Missing Customer or Products Information
Deleting a product from the Search Products page can cause any subscription that contained that product to fail. This is because deleting products in this way can result in a subscription containing products that no longer exist. If this is the case, then the customer's subscription may still be available on the Search Subscriptions page, but it will contains no products.
deactivation vs. deletion
If products need to be permanently removed from your store, it's recommended that they be made "inactive" instead of deleted. This will allow any subscriptions, historical orders, and other store records that refer to that product to still function and display correctly.
If the system attempts to process a subscription containing products that no longer exist in your store database, it can raise a security flag which will prevent this or other due subscriptions from being processed until the suspicious subscription is corrected.
What to do next...
The checklist above fixes 99% of the problems that Tech Support encounters regarding unprocessed subscriptions. If your Subscription Queue still doesn't run after reviewing each of the items listed above, please submit a Support Ticket, and we'll review it in further detail right away.
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